Angel of Darkness
by Black Shadow Fox Shaman
Summary: Death came and took something precious from Team 7. Left to mourn they come to find that things aren't always as they appear to be. An Angel of Death comes out of the darkness and has a familiar face. Second chances are everything.
1. Chapter 1

Angel of Darkness

A/N: Inspired by the song Angel of Darkness. Don't own Naruto…

The rain dripped down from the heavens over the two male shinobi as they stood over a freshly dug grave. The water droplets hid the tears that one of them was denying he was shedding. They hadn't been there to save her. All their worst fears had come to life. Someone had tried to use her against them. She'd fought as hard as she could against them but in the end they killed her. Now neither of them knew what to do.

"Come on Sasuke," Naruto whispered softly. "We need to go."

The raven haired man didn't even protest just gave a curt nod before following his blonde companion. Had they been more alert they might have noticed the two figures standing in the shadows watching them.

They stood there staring at the grave of the fallen medic ninja, one with indifference and the other with sadness.

"Are you sure about this? Once it's done it can't be undone."

The other figure just nodded. "Then it is done."

Sasuke growled darkly as he moved over the battle field. The war with Akatsuki had just started. Naruto ran beside him. Chakra suddenly surrounded them. Both cursed in anger. Looking around they were surrounded by at least twelve ninja. Before they could even make a move something cloaked in black and had black feathered wings landed gracefully between them and the enemy. The only warning they had for what ever it was to attack was the flexing of the black wings. A scythe materialized in the figures hands and with grace and ease the scythe sung as he cut through air. The two ninja stood frozen as each ninja the blades cut through fell to the ground. There wasn't any evidence that they'd been killed with a weapon. It didn't take long for the twelve ninja to be lying in a circle around them. They weren't breathing and their chakra signatures vanished from their senses. Both of them were at a loss for words. Suddenly Naruto pitched sideways and landed on the ground breathing but unconscious.

"Naruto!"

"He's all right Sasuke, just sleeping."

"Who the hell are you?"

The angel or what ever the hell it was didn't answer. He had a nagging feeling that voice was familiar. "I ask again; who are you?"

"Death. I am Death."

Sasuke took a step towards the creature calling themselves Death.

"Don't move any closer Uchiha."

"Tell me who the hell you are and what you did to Naruto?"

"A simple sleeping jutsu calm down Sasuke, and as I said; I am Death."

"That's bull shit."

"Who I was when I was alive doesn't matter anymore, even though my memories plague me."

Death pulled back the allusive black hood and pulled down the face mask and the band across their forehead. His breath caught when he saw the pink hair.

"Sakura?"

He took a step towards her. She took a step backwards.

"Don't come near me Sasuke. If you touch me you'll die."

She turned and faced him. Her eyes were sad and haunting. They lacked the life and luster they used to hold. Sasuke wasn't one for heeding words most of the time and he took another step closer to her. With a warning growl her wings flexed and she leapt backwards. "Don't sign your death warrant before its your time to do so."

Before he could even shoot back a smart ass reply she spread her massive black feathered wings and leapt into the sky and vanished. The only thing left to let him know she'd been real was a pile of black feathers. Shaking it off he went to retrieve Naruto to continue on their mission.

Sometime later a little Uchiha was born to the world. Hey lay sleeping in his crib, but a haunting figure in black stood over him. Sakura sighed tiredly. This baby was Sasuke's son. She hated herself at this moment, but her calling as a messenger of death brought her here. A hospital was a place of life and death and she was here to claim the life of this newborn. She didn't fool herself by trying to imagine that if she had lived this baby might have been hers. Those foolish doctors weren't expert medic ninja like she'd been, but even if they had been they wouldn't have been able to save this little boy. He had a very weak heart. No one could tell it was threatening to stop. She didn't want to do this to Sasuke, but the pull of this child suffering made her struggle not to touch him. There had only been a few cases when she was alive but there was a dangerous disease that a few babies had contracted and there was no known cure. Normally the disease was caught way to late and that was what killed the baby. If a baby managed to survive their first few years then they'd be fine, but even though this boy was an Uchiha he wouldn't last much longer. Looking up at the window Sasuke was standing there looking at his son with a small smile on his face. He couldn't see her thankfully. Kissing the tip of her fingers she reached down and touched her fingers to his forehead. A soft sigh escaped the baby before his heart slowed and stopped.

"I'm sorry little one."

Her heart broke as the monitors started going off. Nurses came rushing in to check on him. They were too late. Death was a cruel thing that didn't give a damn about age or gender. She struck at will and it killed her that she had to take this innocent. It was either her or someone that didn't care one way or another how long the baby suffered because they'd get the soul anyway. She watched Sasuke as fear began to take hold of the normally stoic Uchiha's mind. Naruto showed up just in time to hold Sasuke back from doing something stupid. When Sakura became a Messenger of Death she'd forsaken the ability to cry and it was tearing her apart. Not being able to watch anymore she vanished.

Sasuke watched as the nurses scrambled to try and revive his son. He didn't understand what was going on. He'd seemed perfectly find when they'd brought him out to see him. The group of nurses scrambled to get the baby out of the room. Sasuke was about ready to leap for them to demand what was going on, but Naruto had a hold of him. Sasuke struggled against Naruto's hold. One of the remaining nurses look at the floor in confusion. She picked up a black feather and twirled it around and then he knew his son was gone. Pushing Naruto away Sasuke tore out of the hospital. Once he reached a secluded garden on his family property he stopped allowing his anger to wash over him before he faced the would be death messenger.

"Sakura you stupid bitch, I knew it was you!!"

"There isn't need for name calling Sasuke," she murmured from the tree she was sitting in.

He turned his sharingan on her. She didn't even flinch as she stared into his angry crimson eyes. The tomoe were spinning wildly. "When are you going to realize that I'm dead and nothing works on me?"

"He was just a baby. Why?"

"He was dying Sasuke."

"I don't understand he was fine yesterday."

"He was very sick Sasuke. It was better that I gave him a peaceful death now instead of waiting till he was violently sick months down the road and some other angel would love to watch your suffering by drawing out his death."

Her darkening green eyes narrowed at him. "Do you really think so low of me that you'd actually think I'd kill that child because he wasn't my son? Or is it for past grievances against you?"

"No, I…"

"Yes you were Sasuke. That's what you really thought of me. Despite of what I've become Sasuke I hate doing half of what I do. Taking the lives of innocents is the worst part, but I know they're suffering I gladly ease it a little early. Your son would have died a horrible death Sasuke and I didn't want you to have to watch him gasp for breath until he died."

She turned her back on him and stared out into the darkening forest.

"What was wrong with him?"

"He has a lung disease that strikes down infants. I've never seen it in a newborn though. When I was alive I had to sit through watching three infants die like that Sasuke and I couldn't let him go through that."

"It wasn't your choice."

"You would rather he suffer? And here I thought you had a heart. My bad must have been wrong."

She spread her huge black wing. "He's in a better place Sasuke be assured of that."

Sasuke cursed as he watched her. He'd stuck his foot in his mouth again. The thought of his son being gone made a feeling of a thousand kunai burying themselves in his body. He was loosing his family again and not to Itachi this time. Death itself was coming to take them away and tormenting him. First he'd lost Sakura and low and behold she turns up as an angel of death. Then his son was taken from him. Would he ever win in life? Was he destined to be alone for the rest of his life?

"Sakura I didn't mean it. So much has been taken from me already."

"You can't taken vengeance on me Sasuke."

"I couldn't even if I wanted to."

Sakura looked at him sadly.

"Do me a favor Sasuke Kakashi. My advice to the three of you is Live."

She flexed her wings as if she were getting ready to leave. The sound of snapping twigs made Sasuke look over his shoulder Naruto was standing there with his mouth hanging open.

"I'm afraid guys the next time we meet someone is going to die."

They nodded in understand. She soon vanished in a swirl of black feathers. Both men stood there as it began to rain.

It would take ten years before they saw one another again. Sakura flew towards a grouping of trees before landing gracefully. Her black wing folded and vanished in a flurry of feathers. Carefully she moved out into the open. It wasn't like anyone could kill her since she was already dead. There were bodies of enemy and ally ninja alike littering the ground. The stench of blood was heavy in the air. Someone under her care was dying. Quickening her pace she moved forward trying to find them. The sinking feeling in her heart was that she knew exactly who was dying. He was laying there breathing heavily as he clutched to the gaping wound in his abdomen. She scrambled to his side and fell to her knees beside him. Carefully she managed to get him up despites his gasps of pain. His head was resting against her clothed neck.

"I knew you'd come," he murmured softly.

"I'm here," she whispered softly in his ear.

She placed a soft kiss on his forehead through her face mask.

"Thought you said I couldn't touch you."

"If you touch my bare skin. I'll end it for you Sasuke."

They both knew if she was her normal self she'd be bawling her eyes out and fighting to save him. He grabbed her wrist.

"Not yet," he gasped softly.

"I'm sorry Sakura."

"Sasuke…"

"No, I want to get this out. I wished that things could have been different. I wanted you as the mother of my children."

She knew that she'd have to take his life sooner or later. He was suffering and she couldn't stand that.

"Let me end it, Sasuke."

He looked up at her. His eyes were tired but there was something shining in them that she'd never seen before. It made her heart clench knowing that those feelings were a little too late.

"If you're going to end it, please can I kiss you?"

She leaned down with her face mask on to brush a kiss over his lips but he stopped her. "Take it off. You remind me too much of Kakashi."

Kakashi had died in the battle against the Akatsuki and she'd been there with him as he died. It yanked at her heart strings knowing he hadn't died of old age in his bed. Pulling back a bit she tugged the mask down. Leaning forward their lips touched. The heat in his body was steadily leaving him as he died. His hand came up and tangled in her hair as they kiss. A moment later his hand slackened as Sasuke slipped from the world. All her human emotions she was supposed to banish when she took up the post of being an Angel of Death came flooding forward in a rush. Anger, depression, pain, and sadness took over her as she screamed to the heavens of her sadness. She'd had to take the life of the one person she loved with all of her being. To her surprise her tears trickled down his pale cheek. Jerking back she wasn't supposed to be able to cry and yet her tears were dripping down his face.

"Sasuke?" she whimpered painfully. "I hope where ever you're going that you find the peace you've been looking for. I guess this is it for us."

She rocked his body back and forth whimpering her pain to the world. Duty would call soon and she'd have to go back to find others who were dying but for right now she wanted to try and hang onto Sasuke for as long as she could. Carefully she laid the body down and placed a soft kiss on his lips. She vanished in a flurry of feathers.


	2. Chapter 2

Sakura trudged through the halls of darkness where the angels of death rested. Her wings were folded neatly on her back not even making a sound as she moved down the halls gracefully. Ever since she had to take the life of her beloved she couldn't even focus properly on taking the lives of the innocent much less the wicked. She found her room and sat down on her bed. Sasuke hadn't been an innocent she had taken the life of his son. As far as she knew she was the only Angel of Death that could shed tears. In the corner of her room sat a single photo that she'd managed to snatch it on a trip to her home village to allow herself to watch Sasuke be buried. Why Death had allowed her to go there and allowed her to keep this photo was beyond her understanding but she didn't argue with him on the matter. It sat in her room. It was a picture of them when they were much older. Sasuke had been back a few years and had been reinstated as a shinobi of the Leaf. It was during the Sakura Blossom Festival. Sasuke was wearing a traditional kimono with his back to the camera displaying the Uchiha Clan crest proudly. She and Naruto were sitting on a bench. Kakashi was behind the bench resting his arms around her and Naruto's shoulders. They all were wearing traditional kimonos even though Naruto was a blunder at wearing them. He'd almost face planted a few times until he got the hang of walking in clothes like that. A soft laugh escaped her. She couldn't help it as her fingers traced over the faces of her precious people. It had been two hundred years since then and she'd had to watch many of them fall to time or someone else's blade. Another Angel of Death had been assigned to them because she'd been unable to take anymore lives of the people she'd known; though she was more than happy to be the one to end the existence of some shinobi that sought to bring down the Fire Nation and its hidden village. She showed him the true meaning of what it was like to take away everything that they held dear. Running her hands through her hair she flopped backwards on her bed holding the picture to her chest; when she was alone she allowed herself the time to mourn for her three men.

"Sasuke," she whimpered painfully. "Naruto, Kakashi. I need you."

Tears slid down her pale cheeks and sunk into the black comforter underneath her. So many times she wished that her life could end as an Angel and rejoin those she'd lost so long ago. It got so bad sometimes she'd almost contemplated suicide but it would have been pointless because she couldn't die. Her life as an Angel of Death was suffering because she couldn't bring herself to kill anymore.

A knock came to her door making her start as she sat up. Her grip loosened on the picture frame and it went crashing to the floor. The glass shattered. Horror crossed Sakura's face as she scrambled for the picture. She cut her hand on the glass but no blood flowed from the wound. The flesh knitted together and it was as if nothing had happened. Her tears quickened as she sat there staring at the broken glass. Her hands started to shake. The door opened quietly as she sat there and cried; cried like she'd done a thousand times before a heart wrenching sound that made her the weakest of the Angels of Death. Sasuke was right she was weak in some things.

Death watched his youngest angel sit on the ground crying over a broken picture frame. He knew that she was getting close to her own breaking point and there was no telling what she'd do once she snapped. Sighing softly he knew that he'd made a mistake taking her in. She was too pure for this kind of work. He should have known that the day she had to take the life of the Uchiha's first born son and then later the life of the boy's father. It didn't take a lot to figure out that she was regretting everything she'd done. She'd been his Messenger Angel for two hundred years and it was destroying the purest soul he'd seen in a shinobi in a long time. He'd made a mistake and he knew it. Thankfully her chance at freedom had come up. In a couple of years most of her friends would be reborn in the shinobi world; even that dumbass brat that she was mourning over. In all truths the Uchiha didn't deserve a second chance at this but it had been decided. Someone from above had requested that she get the change to be reborn with them in order for them to have a chance at something that had been denied them in their previous life time. Maybe giving her this chance could possibly atone for what he'd made her do. He'd seen what the Uchiha had failed to see too late. He wouldn't admit that he was above making mistakes but he had by bringing Sakura. He'd been captured by her innocent nature as most men were prone to fall for when she was alive. Her inner light was getting dimmer and dimmer as the years went on. He'd be making it up to her by letting her go even though he wished she'd stay with him.

"Sakura?" he called softly.

She straitened up hearing his voice. He winced knowing that she was probably thinking he'd punish her for being this weak or about ready to send her on another mission.

"Yes, Master?" she asked.

Her voice was loosing the luster it used to have. There used to be such fight in her but now it was reduced to ashes that tasted bitter to him. Turning her head to face him her eyes were dull.

"I have a choice for you my messenger."

Sakura looked up at him wondering where he was going with this. She'd done nothing to warrant any harm coming to her and yet she hadn't done anything right either. Her emotions kept getting in the way. She'd been an emotional creature when alive and it had carried over to her Angel of Death status.

"Choices Master?" she asked softly.

He nodded his head.

"Yes, choices. I will give you time to consider it Sakura."

There was a small sparkle of hope in her eyes but it flashed out just as quickly as it came; that made the true Angel of Death wince. He'd done a lot to this girl and she didn't even deserve it, but it had been her choice. Even though she'd chosen this life it didn't make it right to have had offered it to her. He could see it was tearing her apart from the inside out. "I'm giving you the choice to remain as one of my angels or get a chance at rebirth."

"What's the point of being reborn if I'm not going to…"

"I've heard that your friends will also be reborn again along side you if you so choose."

The hope flared to life in her eyes; then suspicion crept into her emotional eyes.

"What's the catch?"

"There isn't one. You'll be reborn into the life you used to know in a couple of years. What you do with that is up to you. Of course you'll have a different family name since you were the last Haruno."

She nodded sadly in understanding. Even if a lot of things were different this was her last chance to be able to be with her family that wasn't her blood family.

"I want to go back to them," she murmured without hesitation. "I miss them so much."

Death just nodded his head. Placing his hand on Sakura's head she fell into blackness.

Reborn and 8 years later…

Sakura woke coming from a strange dream. Shrugging it off she got up ready to greet the day. She was supposed to go with Sasuke as he practiced his fire jutsus at their family lake. A smile spread across her face. Sasuke was always trying to outdo his older brother, Itachi; despite her reassurances that he'd be a great ninja someday. As far as she was concerned Sasuke was well on his way in surpassing his brother. Itachi often taught the two of them some of the skills he had. At first Sasuke hadn't liked the idea that Itachi teach Sakura, but he soon got used to the idea and had often told her how much he liked having her there, as his best friend. In her heart of hearts she wanted to be with her best friend as more than a best friend, but she didn't want to seem like one of his rabid fangirls that seemed to like following him around all the time. She wanted to show him that the love she held for him was real and if given the change would probably last a long time. Every time she tried to tell him that she liked him his fangirls would pop up and they'd have to run like crazy. That's why they started working in the Uchiha training grounds instead of on the public training grounds. Dressing for their training session she went downstairs. Her parents were away on a mission at that moment. She pushed chakra in her feet and started to head towards the Uchiha Compound. The Uchiha on guard greeted her with a wave and she returned the gesture. They knew her by now because both Uchiha heirs had made it clear that she was allowed passage into their family's home. She headed towards the lake because she knew that was the safest place for Sasuke to practice his fireball jutsu without burning homes or forests down. A snicker escaped her lips remembering that he'd almost done it once. As foreseen Sasuke was standing on the edge of the pier trying to spit out a big fireball. His attempts were weak at best when he first started training like this but the ball had grown considerably larger since he'd started. Smiling she started towards him watching his every move; he was beautiful she decided. Her heart ached with the knowledge that he may never see her as anything but a best friend. Whatever he decided she hoped she'd be okay with it. Once his last fireball burned out he flopped down on the edge of the pier with his legs hanging off of it swinging back and forth idly. Carefully she moved towards him and sat down beside him. She knew that he knew she was there.

"I still can't get it right," he grumbled.

She laughed softly but not at his expense.

"You'll get it Sasuke-kun," she murmured softly, "keep trying."

Her head rested on his shoulder. His arm wrapped around her waist. He sighed tiredly. They'd spent many a nights sitting like this watching the sun set. That's until most of the time his father came around giving them a disapproving look. Itachi had told them not to mind him when he gave them that look. Sakura didn't fool herself even if she was eight Sasuke's father didn't like her because her parents were from a noble family like the Uchiha was.

"I work so hard and it's all for nothing."

"It isn't for nothing Sasuke," Sakura insisted as she pulled away from him a bit. "You'll be a great shinobi one day even better than Itachi."

"Don't get my hopes up Sakura."

"Then don't give up.

He looked down at her for a moment. He seemed to be deep in thought for a moment.

"What would I do without you?"

"Probably burn yourself to a crisp," she teased playfully.

His eyes narrowed playfully back at her. Her eyes widened knowing that look always meant trouble for one or both of them. To her shock and amazement he brushed his lips against her cheek. A blush dusted both of their cheeks.

"You're probably right."

Sakura was a bit dazed but shook it off to stare up into his onyx eyes. Some part of her wanted her to lean up and give him a real kiss but for the sake of their friendship she held it back.

"Don't stress out Sasuke; you'll do fine no matter what happens. Because Itachi, your mother and I believe in the strength you have within you to be the best of the best."

He smiled softly for her as he pulled her back to his side; his arm around her waist. She rested her head against his shoulder and his atop her head. The two of them sat on the pier for hours on end staring out over the calmness of the water until Sasuke's mother called them in for lunch.

Many futures lay ahead for them. This is their second chance at a future that could hold a lot of happiness for them. A chance at life that they were meant to live, together.


End file.
